Adella S. Fabish

Adella S. Fabish, 93, formerly of Belvidere, passed away Sunday, July 3 at River Glen of St. Charles. Adella was born January 5, 1929, in Chicago, the daughter of Paul A. and Rose (Ott) Schoenenberger. She married Edward A. Fabish on October 1, 1949, in Chicago. He passed away on December 22, 2012.

Adella graduated from Alvernia Catholic High School where she enjoyed playing basketball and serving as class secretary. After high school, she was employed by the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company as a secretary and once her children were in school held various secretarial positions in the Buffalo Grove area, where she and Ed lived from 1961 until moving to Belvidere in 1991. Her secretarial skills (she could type 120 words/minute with five carbon copies on a manual typewriter) were put to loving use in all the years she supported Ed in his public service positions in Buffalo Grove and Belvidere. In Buffalo Grove, she was a member of St. Mary Parish, singing in the choir and volunteering at the school. Among her hobbies were gardening, embroidery, and traveling. She and Ed took countless cross country camping trips with their family; she also ventured to Europe several times, enjoying her mother’s Austrian homeland and visiting with her father’s relatives in Switzerland. She delighted in taking her grandchildren to the Boone County Fair (“the best fair in Illinois,” she would say) and keeping up with political news, often writing letters to the editor of the Chicago Tribune. In Belvidere, Adella was a member of St. James Catholic Church and until her death avidly read the parish bulletin that the staff would send to her at River Glen. For some in Belvidere, she may be best known as the “Frango Mint Lady.” She stocked Frango Mints at home and give them out to friends, neighbors, the staff at St. James, and any service folks who came out to her house. Her family will miss her quiet, loving support of her children and grandchildren, her stories of Chicago in bygone days, and her gracious smile.

She is survived by her children:  Susan (Thomas) Tristano, Robert Fabish, Mary Rose (John) Cottingham, Katherine (Edward) Haering; grandchildren:  Katie (Evan) Tristano-Finley, David (Analise) Tristano, Micah Cottingham, Luke (Hannah) Cottingham, Rachel Haering, Joshua Haering, Benjamin Haering; great grandchildren: Ava Tristano, John-Paul, Edith, and Adela Cottingham; brothers: Richard Schoenenberger and Paul Schoenenberger. She was preceded in death by her parents and brother Albert Schoenenberger.

Visitation will be held Sunday, July 24 at Belvidere Funeral Home, 203 Logan Avenue, Belvidere, from 4 to 6pm. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Monday, July 25 at 11am at St. James Catholic Church, 402 Church Street, Belvidere, with Rev. Brian A. Geary officiating. Interment will be in Belvidere Cemetery. Memorials may be sent to St. James Church. Condolences may be shared at belviderefh.com.